Mayor Arto Alpia presents Saara Lång with the Outdoorsman of the Year award at the 2017 Village Awards.
Mayor Arto Alpian many people think of Kaustinen as a bigger place than it really is.
- People often think that the population is 10 000, but there are 4 300 people living here... We have not seen much growth in population, but we have not seen any decline either, which is certainly positive for a small municipality.
Kaustinen is known for its culture, which is reflected, for example, in the images chosen for the municipal strategy. Not just an aerial view," smiles the mayor.
– I have attended the Folk Music Festival every year since 1986 and for a few years I was also chairman of the programme committee. The festival has given me the opportunity to get to know a wide variety of music and of course people, both Finnish and foreign stars.
- From the very first time I understood that the festival is a state of being! It's much more than a series of concerts - what matters is the atmosphere, the general vibe that is created.
The mayor describes himself as a music junkie with a wide range of tastes, interested in all kinds of roots music. However, on request, he will mention some of his favourites.
– From what I hear at festivals, I especially like the Celtic-tinged music. And Timo Rautiainen - I already liked Trio Niskalaukaukaus a lot and then it happened that he got excited about folk music and came here to Kaustinen to study at the Ala-Könni School! The sounds are kind of the same, many of Niskalaukaukas' songs are quite well suited to the folk music style.
- I think acoustics is the thing of Kaustinen festival, of course it is understandable that sound system is needed for example in the arena.
Village music 2017.
Outer-Caucasians gather
In addition to music, the mayor's week at the festival includes a wide range of activities. Traditionally, all kinds of guests have been invited to the Folk Music Festival, and the Mayor then hosts them.
– For example, the decisive negotiations on the financing of the first information network in rural Finland, which connected the municipalities of the Kaustinen sub-region, took place at the Folk Music Festival, Arto Alpia says.
Today, the Mayor's duties include, for example, awarding the Outdoorsman of the Year on Thursday during the Village Festival. The concept of being from outside Kaustinen is an interesting one - people who have lived in Kaustinen in the past are welcomed every summer. The main purpose of the event is to exchange news, although the mayor admits that it would be great to get people to consider moving back... The prize for the expatriate of the year has been awarded since the beginning of the 2000s and has been given to, among others Harri Tastula, Saara Lång, Vesa Tapio Valo, Merja Wirkkala and many other prominent figures from both the cultural and business worlds.
– Sometime in the 1990s, for the first time, people from the outdoor scene were actively invited to parties. I remember that first event in the old Music Hall. People came who hadn't met for years, old confessional school friends who hadn't met since those days. The purple minstrels played and, when I started my own welcome, I stopped it immediately when the hall went into a frenzy of chatter!
Countryside and bustle
This year, the municipality of Kaustinen will be particularly visible in the Festival Park in connection with the 150th anniversary. In addition to a series of signature concerts, they will have their own signature stage, and an information point is planned, where you can find information about entrepreneurship, plots and other services provided by the municipality.
So when will the train wreck become a real caustic?
- You'd have to ask the native Kaustians," laughs Mayor Alpia, originally from Lapua.
- I myself started in this job in 1991, so I have now been here for 27 years. All in all, it's an interesting and wonderful place! Home is a kilometre from the centre and it feels like a summer cottage, with birds chirping in the woods by the river.
– Here in Kaustinen there is a certain nice rural feel and at the same time a certain bustle of events, there are races and festivals, sledgehammer carnivals, etc. The music high school attracts students from all over Finland, which brings vibrancy and colour to the place. In many people's eyes, Kaustinen is in a way bigger than it really is, because we are quite visible and we have a lot going on!
The Outdoorsman of the Year 2018 will be announced at the Puumala Village Festival on Thu 12.7. at 10.30.
Tove Djupsjöbacka
